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An Unpopular Opinion About Movies

This has been rolling around my head for a while now so it’s time to let it out. They need to quit it with the live-action remakes of old animated movies and series.

It was great when they started with the 2007 Transformers movie–not going to lie about that. That first Transformers movie was done quite well. It gave movie goers a dash of something new in terms of the improvement in computer-generated imagery. It also tickled the nostalgia in the older people in the audience. While that was quite fantastic at the time, it inevitably broke the dam (so to speak) on the current flood of nostalgia and live-action remakes that we’re all swimming in right now.

When Bay raked in more than $700 Million for his Transformers movie, Hollywood took that as the undeniably solid gold signal that their audiences needed more nostalgia driven pieces in their lives and in the silver screen. Of course, Bay also took that as a go signal to dredge up even more of the favorites of the 90’s like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and even more Transformers movies. And let’s be honest, the subsequent giant robot movies he’s made have been one plot wreck after another. Don’t even get me started on the TMNT movies! Still oddly enough, it wasn’t just the likes of Michael Bay that got into the live-action remake bug.

Even the giant kid-focused Disney got into the swing of things with a live action remake of Cinderella. Emboldened by its critical success at the box office, Disney now plans on bringing most (if not all) of their animated films into a live action version. The likes of The Jungle Book were turned into CGI monsters that didn’t really bring anything new unto the table. If you’ve been living under a rock, you probably missed all the hype about the live action remake of The Beauty and The Beast. They even dragged Emma Watson in for this movie. Currently, Disney has been releasing teasers about Mulan, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King. Those childhood darlings are going to have their turn at being processed, repackaged, and shoved in peoples faces as “a fresh spin on a much beloved tale”.

So instead of coming up with actual fresh and original material, it seems that screenwriters, directors, and their producers are more focused on coming up with the next big live-action remake that’s jam packed with nostalgia that will have the South Park Member Berries just shrivel up and head on to Nirvana.

It seems like it’s a wasted opportunity for original tales and the undiscovered talents since they’re more than likely looked over in favor of what old thing can be made new again. The Renaissance period wasn’t called that because of all the rehashing they did of old works. They were called that because the artists all collectively pursued the new and undiscovered. I feel that instead of getting old stories, we should be getting continuations. We deserve to get ‘next’ and not be directed to what we’ve already seen and experienced.

So I don’t know about you but I feel that we’re missing out and I want and expect more.